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Apologia Report 14:35
September 11, 2009
Subject: Americans becoming less Christian, more Hindu?
In this issue:
HINDUISM - Americans "slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like
traditional Christians"
MORMONISM - Pew survey indicates significant contrasts
ORIGINS - Choice review lauds McGrath's Fine-Tuned Universe
SCIENTOLOGY - "the definitive, scholarly work" on the subject?
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HINDUISM
"We Are All Hindus Now" by Lisa Miller -- "We are, it is true, a
nation founded by Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76
percent of us continue to identify as Christian (still, that's the
lowest percentage in American history). ... But recent poll data show
that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus
and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God,
our selves, each other, and eternity. ...
"None is better than any other; all are equal. The most
traditional, conservative Christians have not been taught to think
like this. They learn in Sunday school that their religion is true,
and others are false. Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the father except through me.'
"Americans are no longer buying it. According to a 2008 Pew Forum
survey, 65 percent of us believe that 'many religions can lead to
eternal life' - including 37 percent of white evangelicals, the group
most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone. ... Thirty
percent of Americans call themselves 'spiritual, not religious,'
according to a 2009 NEWSWEEK Poll, up from 24 percent in 2005. ...
"[H]ere is another way in which Americans are becoming more Hindu:
24 percent of Americans say they believe in reincarnation, according
to a 2008 Harris poll." Newsweek, Aug 31 '09,
Note: the Pew survey's reference to "many religions" has been
disputed, as some claim that a significant number of respondents
understood it to mean denominations, not necessarily distinct world
religions.
MORMONISM
The survey findings in "A Portrait of Mormons in the U.S." by the Pew
Forum on Religion & Public Life, dated July 24, 2009, disclose that
"Only Hindus (78%) are more likely than Mormons to be married. Mormons
(83%) and Hindus (90%) also are the most likely of all the major
religious traditions to be married to someone of the same faith. ...
"Mormons are widely known for having large families and, indeed,
about half of all Mormons (49%) have children under age 18 living at
home, with one-in-five (21%) saying they have three or more children
at home. Only Muslims are similarly likely to have large families: 47%
of Muslims have at least one child living at home and 15% have three
or more. ...
"Nearly nine-in-ten Mormons in the U.S. (86%) are white, compared
with 71% of the general population. ... Jehovah's Witnesses and
especially Muslims are among the most racially diverse religious
traditions in the U.S.; less than half of each tradition is white (48%
and 37%, respectively). ...
"The 26% of Mormons who are converts to the faith differ markedly
from lifelong Mormons in several ways. First, converts tend to be
older than lifelong Mormons. Nearly half of converts (48%) are over
age 50, compared with about three-in-ten lifelong members (29%).
Converts also tend to be less educated than nonconverts (16% did not
graduate from high school, compared with just 6% of lifelong members)
and they earn decidedly lower incomes (40% make less than $30,000 a
year, compared with 21% among nonconverts).
"Converts are more likely than lifelong members to come from
minority racial and ethnic groups. One-in-ten converts to Mormonism
are black, and nearly all black Mormons are converts. An additional
one-in-ten Mormon converts are Hispanic, and just 72% are white; by
contrast, 91% of lifelong Mormons are white. Converts are also more
than three times as likely as lifelong members to be immigrants to the
U.S. (14% vs. 4%). ...
"More than nine-in-ten Mormons (91%) say the Bible is the word of
God, with just 4% saying it was written by men and is not the word of
God. This high level of belief in the Bible as the word of God,
however, is tempered by the belief that it should not be taken
literally, word for word. A majority of Mormons (57%) say it should
not be taken literally, with a significantly smaller proportion (35%)
saying it should be taken literally, word for word.
"Among other Christian traditions in which high numbers of members
say the Bible is the word of God, much larger proportions say it
should be taken literally. For example, more than nine-in-ten
Jehovah's Witnesses and more than eight-in-ten members of both
evangelical Protestant and historically black Protestant churches
consider the Bible to be the word of God, a figure similar to that of
Mormons. But members of these three groups are more likely to say the
Bible should be taken literally than to say it should not be taken
literally. Among the public as a whole, two-thirds (63%) see the Bible
or other religious Scripture as God's word, with about half of these
(33% overall) saying it should be taken literally. ...
"One quarter of Mormons (24%) say they share their faith with
nonbelievers or people from other religious backgrounds at least once
a week. This figure is on par with the general population (23%) but
much lower than among Jehovah's Witnesses (76%) and members of
historically black (42%) and evangelical (34%) Protestant churches.
"At the same time, however, relatively few Mormons report they
seldom or never share their religious beliefs. Only a quarter (24%)
says this, compared with nearly half of the general population (47%),
nearly a third of members of historically black Protestant churches
(32%) and 29% of members of evangelical Protestant churches. Mormons
are more likely than members of these other traditions to say they
share their faith sometimes, either at least once a month (24%) or at
least a few times a year (27%). ...
"Roughly a quarter of current Mormons (26%) are converts to the
faith. This is a much higher proportion than among Catholics (11%) and
Jews (15%) but significantly lower than among Buddhists (73%),
Jehovah's Witnesses (67%).... Of those who have converted to
Mormonism, roughly half (13% of Mormons overall) were raised
Protestant, one-in-four (7% of Mormons overall) were raised Catholic
and one-in-five (5% of Mormons overall) were raised without a
religious affiliation.
"Mormons have a relatively high retention rate of childhood members
compared with other major religious traditions. Seven-in-ten of those
raised Mormon (70%) still identify as Mormon, a figure roughly
comparable to that seen among those raised Catholic (68% are still
Catholic) but somewhat lower than among those raised Protestant (80%
are still Protestant and 52% are still in the same Protestant family).
Jehovah's Witnesses, by contrast, have a relatively low retention rate
(only 37% are still Jehovah's Witnesses).
"Of those who leave Mormonism after being raised in the faith, half
(15% of those raised Mormon overall) convert to a new religion, while
the other half (14% overall) become unaffiliated. This is similar
among those raised Catholic; about half of those who leave the faith
(18% of all those raised Catholic) switch to another religion and half
(14%) switch to no religion. Among those raised Protestant, 28%
switched to another Protestant family, 7% joined a non-Protestant
faith and 13% became unaffiliated. ...
"When asked whether they believe that their religion is the one
true faith leading to eternal life or whether many religions can lead
to eternal life, a majority of Mormons (57%) say theirs is the one
true faith, with a sizable minority (39%) taking the opposite view.
Only among one other religious tradition - Jehovah's Witnesses (80%) -
does a majority say theirs is the one true faith leading to eternal
life. Among evangelical Protestants, by contrast, 36% say theirs is
the one true faith leading to eternal life and 57% say many religions
can lead to eternal life. A smaller percentage of the religiously
affiliated public overall (24%) says theirs is the one true faith
leading to eternal life.
"Mormons also tend to be strict interpreters of their own religion.
A majority (54%) says there is only one true way to interpret the
teachings of their religion, with 43% saying there is more than one
way. Among the affiliated population overall, more than two-thirds
(68%) say there is more than one way. ...
"Two-thirds (68%) prefer preserving [LDS] traditions to adjusting
beliefs and practices (23%) or to adopting modern beliefs and
practices (3%). Mormons are more likely to favor preserving
traditional beliefs and practices than the affiliated public generally
(44%); in fact, only Jehovah's Witnesses come close to rivaling
Mormons on this measure (61%)." <www.pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=427>
ORIGINS
A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology, by
Alister E. McGrath [1] -- "McGrath's background in religion and
science well equips him to draw together the supposedly disparate
topics of finding evidence of God in science and religion. ... McGrath
(Oxford) clearly divides this volume into a presentation of his
position (first half) and supporting observations and interpretations
(second half). He is concerned with 'identifying and exploring a
series of (surprising facts) observed within the natural world, which
force further discussion of some of the most fundamental questions of
life.' He brings his investigation to bear on the directionality of
evolution and discusses the teleology of evolution. McGrath brings
together the examination of anthropic [the] phenomenon with 'the
Trinitarian vision of reality that is characteristic of classical
Christianity' in an effort to point toward an argument for God's
existence based on the beauty and order of the natural world. His
writing is articulate, tightly packed, and full of examples to
illustrate his points. His book follows a natural progression of his
most recent writing on the subject. The notes are extensive with an
excellent bibliography. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level
undergraduates and above." Choice, Aug '09, n.p. []
SCIENTOLOGY
Scientology, by James R. Lewis, ed. [2] -- the Amazon product
description tells us that, in a field fraught with controversy,
"Scientology is arguably the most persistently controversial of all
contemporary New Religious Movements. The Church of Scientology has
been involved in battles over tax issues, a ten-year conflict with the
Food and Drug Administration, extended turmoil with a number of
European governments, and has even been subjected to FBI raids in
Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles." And that's just the tip of the
iceberg. The anthology's 24 contributing authors - including
controversial, reputedly "cult-friendly" academics such as J. Gordon
Melton, Susan Palmer, David Bromley, and James T. Richardson - "take a
detailed look at the Church through its similarities to and
differences from other religions, conflicts with various groups,
overseas missions, and its theology, history, and sociology."
Choice magazine (Aug '09, n.p.) says the 22 essays that make up the
book result in what "will remain for many years the definitive,
scholarly work on Scientology." [3] (And one has reason to suspect
that the church hopes for just such an outcome.)
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Sources, Monographs:
1 - A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology,
by Alister E. McGrath (Westminster J Knox, 2009, hardcover, 288 pages)
2 - Scientology, by James R. Lewis, ed. (Oxford Univ Prs, 2009,
hardcover, 464 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/nyjhgr>
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